Chew your food

By Joan McDaniel October 19, 2012

While slowly regaining my health and continuing my reading and researching into healthy eating, I ran across an article which brought back childhood memories. The article simply said, “CHEW YOUR FOOD”. Now my childhood was a while ago, and it has been some time since I have been under my parents watchful eyes, but that slogan reminded me of when I had a plate of Liver and Onion’s in front of me and I was wondering how I would even get it into my mouth and down let alone having it linger in my mouth for any time what so ever, especially to taste it. ——– UGH!!!!!!!

It seems a traditional thing, my parent’s age group still loves Liver and Onions , and I still hate it. It was a healthy inexpensive way to feed the family but I still hate it. I assume the rest of my age group doesn’t like it either. We don’t seem to eat much real anything anymore let alone organ meat.

Be that as it may, there is something into this chewing your food recommendation. I guess we all seem to think that once past the mouth the food just gets converted to energy and that is that.

Chewing

Koala Bear Chewing Food

Chewing uses the enzymes in saliva to start digestion. Chewing is extremely important, yet oftentimes overlooked. For healthy digestion food must be chewed thoroughly. Incomplete chewing leaves large food fragments too big to be digested, on which bacteria can grow, leaving undigested food in the colon causing flatulence, and other symptoms of indigestion or much worse medical conditions. Some of these conditions can get very serious and call for all those MRI’s and CAT scan, highly profitable antacid meds, and other very expensive stuff that the AMA, the Pharmaceutical companies and the rest of the medical profession love.

But I digress, on with digestion.

A brief look at digestion

Digestion is not a simple subject. In Fact, the more I read the experts on it, the more I see not anyone person has got a real handle on exactly how it works. Digestion – The process, by which food gets broken down in the body and by which the energy is released from the atomic bonds into the cells. Food is broken down into its nutritional components.

So to illustrate and be very brief:

Your body has to take what you eat:

Use Digestive Enzymes to convert the food to atom particles

To feed your body’s cells

List of Organelles of Cell

We could spend hours and certainly need much more detail in describing nutrition, digestion and Gods wonderful creation of the living body machine but I think I have made my simple point.

CHEW YOUR FOOD

Picture of Cell

Much more of this later but I did want to say one more important thing.

Fat-Free Food Pyramid

I know the Food Police and the Fat-Free fanatics go on and on about the harm of Fats and go absolutely frantic at the mention of Saturated fats but did you know;

Saturate fat – The kind of fat in Coconut Oil is a vital nutrient. It is not a poison. It is an important source of energy, it aids in the digestion process. Monounsaturated Fats the kind in Olive Oil, Avocado and other oils also aid digestion and without consuming fat, digestion of fat-soluble minerals and vitamins is impossible. Because they dissolve in fat, vitamins A, D, E, and K are called fat-soluble Vitamins. They are absorbed in the small intestine.

Polyunsaturated fat– Do not help digestion for it is four or more hydrogen atoms short of saturation.

And here is another thought when it comes to healthy eating —–

What happen to our local farmer?

People are a trusting lot, and when large companies, organizations and government agencies get involved we have a tendency to trust. Just as we trust that the grocery store shelves contain nice wholesome food and not someone’s quick easy money scheme, we have allowed large manufactures to propagandize us away from our natural products selection and away from our local farmer into slick packaged goods and gimmicks and have allow others to make our decisions for us. By presenting these simple facts I hope this can change. By the way Visit your local farmers market.

Now here is another did you know – There was a movement in the 1900’s where everyone chewed their food 25 times before swallowing they even chewed their water.

The Great Masticator

Horace Fletcher -(1848 – 1919) A raconteur, world traveler, amateur painter, speaker, and author. He is famous for being an American health food enthusiast of the Victorian era who earned the nickname “The Great Masticator,” by arguing that food should be chewed thirty two times – or, about 100 times per minute – before being swallowed: “Nature will castigate those who don’t masticate. ” In 1898 first started thoroughly chewing his food to improve his heath, He invented elaborate justifications for his claim. Fletcher and his followers recited and followed his instructions religiously, even claiming that liquids, too, had to be chewed in order to be properly mixed with saliva. Fletcher argued that his mastication method will increase the amount of strength a person could have while actually decreasing the amount of food that he consumed. Fletcher promised that “Fletcherizing”, as it became known, would turn “a pitiable glutton into an intelligent epicurean.” He promoted his theories for decades on lecture circuits, and became a millionaire. Novelist Upton Sinclair,Henry James, Franz Kafka and cereal magnate John Harvey Kellogg and Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller were among those who gave his ideas a try.

Even in the 70’s on The Bob Newhart Show‘s said, “Thirty-two times keeps your tummy from danger; then you can stay up and listen to The Lone Ranger.”

He wasn’t alone in his thinking. Over the decades, many others have argued for more gnashing of the teeth. Gandhi himself, some say, advised his followers to “Chew your drink and drink your food.”

I AM NOT A FLETCHERIZER BUT CHEW YOUR FOOD

How to chew

Put a fork-full of food in your mouth, put down the fork and chew. Taste each item. Don’t pick up the fork again until you have swallowed what’s in your mouth. I don’t count, I just taste. Remember, it isn’t the quality you swallow but the quantity. Take your time and enjoy your meal. Treat your body as the holy temple it is.

REMEMBER AT LEAST IT IS NOT LIVER AND ONIONS.